‘Nice and friendly.’ Do you hear that often… or is it going out of fashion? We were just a little surprised to see that the top 3 search results for that very phrase referred to a short film Directed by Charlie Chaplain in 1922… that’s a film made almost 100 years ago.
But why were we really taken aback? Well for us, the phrase ‘nice and friendly’ is something that we hear all the time; in fact, as part of some research to find out what our customers thought about aspects of our service, we asked; “What words spring to mind when you contact and work with Coralline Health?” The one phrase that came through again and again was; ‘nice and friendly’.
We are delighted about that, because when we looked a little more closely at the feedback we found other words and phrases that expressed similar feelings: ‘approachable and understanding.’… ‘nothing is too much trouble.’… ‘they make you feel comfortable.’
These sentiments are an essential and fundamental part of our business. It’ all very well providing people with fast access to medical diagnosis and care, but we all know that sometimes, just picking up the phone is hard – and that’s the point – because most health care questions and claims start with a phone call.
That’s why we believe that there is no such thing as a silly question. On the contrary; quite often it’s the basic questions that are the most important and what’s more, we also know that it’s common for people to feel a little reticent; that somehow the reasons for calling are too trivial. But they never are, and that’s why we will always listen and always help… and that’s why our customers appreciate the conversation that they have with us, as opposed to the somewhat detached ‘Q&A process’ all too often experienced with a call-centre.
Jacqui Shaw: “Why would you want to be anything other than nice and friendly to your customers? Surely anyone in a customer service environment exists to be helpful, nice and friendly and to make customers feel at ease and to assist them with any queries that they may have. We have all had experiences where we haven’t felt that a customer service representative was nice and friendly and it’s not a great place to be and it doesn’t make you feel loyal to the company because you don’t feel that your custom is valued.
When we set up our health insurance business in 2011, we really wanted to make sure that we treated customers the way that we ourselves wanted to be treated, with respect and expertise.
I am glad that our customers feel that we are looking after them well and that they can always contact us whenever they need to, to ask for any help and advice. Seventy percent of our new business now comes from customer referrals and I’m sure this is because of the response they receive from our team. It pays to be nice and frankly it’s a nicer way to do business.”
